Joel Embiid the one constant in all Sixers plans

LAS VEGAS — The biggest sports question surrounding Philadelphia pro teams this summer is whether the 76ers will make the playoffs this coming season. It trumps the future of the Phillies, betters the vision Flyers general manager Ron Hextall has for his team, and moves ahead of whether Carson Wentz can lead the Eagles to a bright future.

Is it a fair question? Is it too early to expect the team to improve to  be nearly 30 wins better than the 10-win season of two years ago? Answers range from perhaps, to maybe, to probably.

Really, it all depends on only one factor.

Here are some of this season's realities that have to be factored into the playoff discussion for coach Brett Brown.

He will be starting a backcourt of two players — Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz — who have never played an NBA game and further, never been on an NBA court together. The positives are plenty. Both can be called upon to create beneficial offensive situations for themselves. Both will have the ball in their hands at the end of quarters, halves and games and have the chance to produce positive outcomes.

In 12-year veterans J.J. Redick and Amir Johnson, Brown can relinquish some of the leadership responsibilities that have overburdened him since he came here in the summer of 2013 and was handed roster after roster of NBA infants and wannabes. He will no longer have to be the dominating voice in everything from practice expectations to game situations. Those two will provide not only on-court reliability, but also, much-needed offcourt guidance that has rarely been present on Brown's teams.

But those additions aren't going to thrust the team into the playoffs, because there are going to be growing pains. Redick will need to learn how to play with a ton of inexperience that will surround him on the floor. Johnson might not be a major contributor, but when he is on the floor he'll be  playing with unfamiliar teammates.

But Brown can live with that.

Fultz is going to be a starter and given about 25 minutes a game for the season. He is going to struggle more often than not. Defenses will attack him to get the most versatile offensive player the team might have off his game. He will struggle early as he has defensive mentality that causes him to follow the ball way more than he should.

Brown will expect that. Growing pains with his youngsters are exactly what he anticipates. There will be long stretches in which Fultz can't find his shot. Simmons might go through extended periods of games in which turnovers will be the one statistic that overrides all others.

The coach will have to figure out how to use the likes of Jerryd Bayless, Nik Stauskas, T.J. McConnell, Jahlil Okafor, Richaun Holmes and others off the bench. To be a playoff contender, all those factors will have to be resolved. But none of them will matter if there isn't one constant.

And that's Joel Embiid.

It all goes back to the 7-2, 280-pound center. None of the above matters if Embiid isn't there for 65 or so games, isn't dominating the middle, isn't reliable for 30 or minutes a night.

He is the center of the universe — for now if there is a possible playoff run, for the future if there are championship aspirations. The rest will be figured out and it will take much, if not all, of this season to do so. The struggles of the young players are expected. The gelling will take time. None of it, however, matters even a little bit if Embiid doesn't become what the organization envisions.

Fultz can become an offensive NBA stud, with versatility that will make many opponents scratch their defensive heads. Simmons might evolve into one of the best passers the league has ever seen and the veterans might prove to be the most revered leaders to don the red, white and blue in Brown's tenure.

But none of it will matter if Embiid isn't the center of it all, isn't the face of the franchise, isn't the focus of all that is this rebuild.

Playoff talk has become legitimized, now that teams such as Chicago, Indiana and Atlanta have gone toward tank mode and the Sixers have established their roster.

Mediocrity has become the buzzword in the NBA. And while the Sixers have made numerous transactions to ensure they are not mired there, only one player can keep them from it.

All the peripheral pieces can reach, maybe even exceed, expectations. But if Joel Embiid doesn't, none of it will matter. He's just that important.